Ramblings of my attempts to run, swim and keep the tennis ball in play.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Welcome Spring & Happy Easter!

Spring has FINALLY sprung here in Georgia. After what seemed like a longer than normal winter, I think we have broken through. Today's high was 83 and I loved every minute of it! It was a roller coaster week at work so the perfect weather this week was a great treat.

Seven out of the 30 some odd people in my office were let go on Wednesday. I knew it was coming so it wasn't as shocking for me as it was for the ones involved but you never feel safe until the "suits" have left the building to go back to the home office. Unfortunately, I was chosen to deliver the message to 3 out of the 7. It had all been very hush-hush so aside from me and 2 others in the office, it was a complete shock. You can imagine... Thankfully, corporate was generous in the package that was offered so hopefully that will give some amount of comfort to those who are now looking for employment. I have heard that in some cases the ones who are left behind as they are given a chance to reinvent themselves and perhaps branch out into a new career that they might not have unless they were forced.

I cut back my hours at the tennis club starting next month. I had been working for weeks without a day off and was really feeling the drain. I didn't connect it at first but just began to feel tired all the time. Tired like I could put my head down on my desk, on my steering wheel, on the treadmill, in a bowl of soup and go to sleep kind of tired. The club said they would do whatever they needed to do to keep me so we settled on me working 2 nights a week and no weekend unless there are special events which is typically one weekend a month. This all starts in May so am truly looking forward to the change as I have spring fever big time!

I was off today due to Easter so could not wait to get up this morning and get my run on. I am so off my schedule that I knew I would probably only be good for a 5 mile run. I made my way to Stone Mountain around 10:00. It was packed with runners, walkers and bikers! It was just one of those days where you HAD to be outside. I had worked up an awesome sweat. I ran the hills although didn't feel as strong as I had in the past. I could tell it had been a while. No matter, I churned through it and knocked off a 5 miler. It felt so good!

When I got home, CR was itching to get outside too so we decided to walk to the end of the street and back (about a mile). When we got to the end of the street, he was feeling so good we decided to head to Mountain Park which is another half mile from the end of the street. We decided to walk on the trails instead of the paved path which was somethimg I don't normally do. The county has made a nice half mile or so trail through the woods that eventually connects to the paved pathways. It would be a great place to get some trail running in. As a matter of fact, it was pretty good for walking too :) As we got to the end of the trail, we called it a day and headed back to the house. All in all, we got in a a 5k walk which might have been pushing it for CR since the accident so hopefully he won't be feeling it later!

Our Easter treat this weekend was a Cherry Dump Cake. I guess they call it cake because it is made with cake mix. It really is more like a cobbler. Soooo good with ice cream. Unfortunately, we had none.... :( Give it a whirl and dig in!

In a 13x9 pan, dump in the pineapple and then the cherry pie filling to cover the bottom. Sprinkle dry cake mix on top followed by the nuts. Drizzle with the melted butter. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

I have actually made this dump cake before, since it's pretty baic and easy for me, and it's a favorite! We made cheesecake, which was totally challenging and labor intensive. Should have done the dump cake! :) I'm happy you got out for a run!

About Me

Initially, this blog was about getting to 40. Well, here I am. Now what? Over the past year, I set some goals for my fitness, passed them and then some. I went from someone who didn't like to run to someone who can't imagine life without it. This is my record of how I got from the couch to an ironman...